Tomorrow's Business Today
Gilty men and dangerous idiots
Here is the 7.01am express from The Bank of England, a now daily bullet train designed to put the Fear of God into Liz Truss.
Some stand out words: Dysfunction, self-reinforcing “fire sale” dynamics, a material risk to UK financial stability.
Why the latest intervention in the bond markets? “To help restore market functioning and reduce any risks from contagion to credit conditions for UK households and businesses.”
The point about gilts is that in so far as UK households even directly come across them it is as the super-boring part of their pension funds. The bit that doesn’t earn much, but simply never goes wrong.
Sky’s Ed Conway says: “The government bond market is – in the UK and elsewhere – best thought of as the bedrock of the financial system.”
The Bank says boring old bonds might be about to screw us all up in language anyone can get. (Yes, even the PM.)
Conway adds: “This is starting to look a little…unnerving.”
Those missing the point include The Spectator, where someone thinks the issue is that “Liz Truss has a language problem…The PM speaks fluent wonk.”
Neither the City nor the Bank of England think Liz Truss is a wonk. They wouldn’t mind a bit of wonk. They think she is a dangerous idiot.
One good thing about crises – you get new puns.
The Times’ Red Box email has a good one today: The Gilty Men.
It does not think they reside in Threadneedle Street.
Press release of the day
Annuity rates have hit a 13-year high – the kind of good news we like when everything else is bad.
Should you take advantage? Surely the answer is mostly yes, but there are nuances.
Some expert opinions here from Rhizome Media.
